But with Guardiola continuing to insist he wants a break and a return of Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho looking less and less likely, Redknapp is now a serious candidate.

The 64-year-old – who was widely expected to get the England job ahead of Roy Hodgson – has just a year left on his contract at White Hart Lane.

And he knows he will have much bigger resources at Chelsea, having hinted at his frustration at an apparent lack of ambition at Spurs.

Only last week he revealed he had wanted to sign Carlos Tevez on loan from Manchester City in January, but ended up having to accept Everton’s 33-year-old Louis Saha.

And on Sunday he was talking about Tottenham needing to strengthen in the summer and sign three “quality” players.

Redknapp would be a popular choice at Chelsea, where he is well known and liked by England stars John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.

Redknapp also coached Lampard at the start of his career at West Ham. Tellingly, Redknapp was full of praise when talking about Abramovich in March, saying the billionaire was passionate about the game.

“He is football mad,” he said.

A source close to Abramovich last night said: “Roman has not given up on Guardiola, but Harry is in his thoughts as well.”

Abramovich would have to pay the north Londoners compensation for Redknapp – at least £5m – but the Russian was happy for fork out £13m to Porto to release flop Andre Villas-Boas from his deal last summer.